Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cyclocomputer attachable to a bicycle.
Description of the Background Art
Japanese Utility Model Laying-open No. 02-83574 discloses displaying on a display device installed in a vehicle a variety of information that is stored in an IC card brought into the vehicle.
A cyclocomputer attached to a bicycle and displaying a variety of information such as a travelling speed in a manner visible by the rider, has also been conventionally known.
In recent years, near field communication (NFC) technology is increasingly prevalent. A basic study of the NFC technology has been started with the technology under the name of Felica (registered trademark). The basic study of the NFC was started in the late 1980's, and the technology, started by Sony Corporation, has been standardized in recent years as contactless IC card communication (or the NFC communication). While NFC communication includes Felica, ISO/IEC 14443 TypeA (MIFARE (registered trademark)), ISO/IEC 14443 TypeB, and ISO15693 for differences in communication specifications, a chip embedded in a card accommodating all specifications (an NFC LSI chip) and a reader writer have appeared in recent years. The NFC communication is put in practical use as a commutation ticket for public transportation facilities, or electronic money used to pay small sums of money and also having a function as a commutation ticket, or Suica (registered trademark) (Felica) and taspo (registered trademark) (TypeA). In Japan, the technology has also been applied to driver's license, and the NFC standard of the TypeB specification has been applied thereto. The NFC standard of the ISO15693 specification is used for a tag for business use and the like. In Japan, a My Number Card, a successor to a basic resident registry card, is scheduled to be introduced in January, 2016, with an NFC LSI chip embedded therein.
A cyclocomputer is attached to a bicycle, and accordingly, it is desirable that the cyclocomputer be small in size. On the other hand, it is desirable that the cyclocomputer have a display having a size of some extent to display information. As the small-size cyclocomputer is required to ensure a display having an area of a size of some extent, the cyclocomputer is limited in terms of the size of a user interface used for input to and output from the cyclocomputer. For example, it is difficult to provide the cyclocomputer at an external surface thereof with numeric key pads, as it is necessary to ensure the display's area.
Accordingly, cyclocomputer dealers have a setting device installed in their shops and dedicated to cyclocomputers for initializing them, such as inputting data such as a cumulative travelled distance, a circumferential length of a tire of a bicycle, a current time, a date, and the like. The setting device can be used to input predetermined information to a new cyclocomputer device.
Furthermore, some riders may ride different bicycles for different purposes, and in such a case, it is desirable that a cyclocomputer can be shared among the different bicycles. Sharing a cyclocomputer among different bicycles, however, requires rewriting information such as a tire's circumferential length stored in the cyclocomputer, and it is unrealistic to visit a dealer whenever such a rewriting operation is required. Conventionally, such rewriting necessitates using a limited user interface, such as a few number of switches. For example, when a user is required to use two switches to enter a 4-digit number, the user must press the switches repeatedly. As a result, it is difficult to share a single cyclocomputer among a plurality of bicycles or rewrite information such as a tire's circumferential length.
Furthermore, a cyclocomputer is attached to a bicycle, which is human-powered, and accordingly, the cyclocomputer is required to be lightweight. Sometimes, a bicycle travels hundreds of kilometers for tens of hours at once, and while the bicycle is thus traveling, the cyclocomputer cannot be removed from the bicycle, and accordingly, the cyclocomputer is required to operate on a small-size power source such as a coin cell battery.